I know some of you guys and girls are avid runners, so I thought this was the ideal place to throw this discussion out there.
How do you guys motivate yourselves?
About 7 months ago I was drinking a bit too much - living a bit of a stupid lifestyle by all accounts; I had nothing to do at work and was in charge of a team when I was the youngest. Needless to say many afternoons were sacked off for the pub, I was out nearly every evening to the point it was rare I'd make the last train - so I'd be hammered and getting taxis all over the shop. Being a smoker I was also smoking multiple packs on a night out, so I utterly abused my body, my bank account and.. well.. my dignity. (Some cracking stories though I guess.)
With this in mind I spent about a month going to the gym and sorting myself out. This was awesome, picked up my mood and pretty much enabled me to make the move to another office. Unfortunately, with that transition I lost the gym.. until this week. I've signed up for a package at Bromley and went yesterday.. and it kicked my ass. It's also my 15th day without a cigarette, so I've decided now is the time to capitalise on having my own schedule and making a few healthier choices.
Any tips regarding motivation and/or fitness in general?
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6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months are your dates.
Assess where you are at the end of each period and work from there for your next goal.
I may start using Fitocracy for logging again, I remember that was pretty convenient for logging workouts and also made it into a bit of a game. Cheers mate! I went from 20-a-day (add 20 for nights out.) up until Jan, then tried vaping but it didn't really work out - it kinda felt like I was sucking The Tin Man off.
Then one day a few weeks ago I got a cold, and couldn't be bothered dragging myself out to get cigarettes and fell back to the vapouriser and it just "clicked". So I've reduced the nicotine strength in the liquids I use, and I'm going to aim to be on 0% nicotine ones within a month or two - and stop using that too.
The biggest challenge will be on a proper night out - but I've managed a few social gatherings so far and it seemed OK.
Other than that, setting goals in the gym, as Dazzler said, is a good idea.
http://forum.charltonlife.com/discussion/comment/2492864/#Comment_2492864
My advice to find something you like, and stick to a sensible level of exercise you can stick to. I go to the gym twice a week as it works for me. Any more than that, and it would become a chore and too time consuming, with the ultimate danger of me getting fed up and giving up.
What Dazzler said and enter some sort of competition, triathlon, swim, 5k run, whatever sometime in the future and make that your target. Keep your focus on that, and put yourself outside your comfort zone when training. That works for me.
*Edit if you can get to instructor led classes I find they are better than trying to motivate yourself.
Don't start talking to strange men in changing rooms, telling how fit they look. That sort if thing.
There's so much stuff around to try and occasionally you find something you really love. And then if you ever got bored of it you do something else. At the moment I'm running twice a week and kickboxing once a week. Before that I was going to the gym and swimming. I've done normal boxing, played squash, used a kettlebell at home, done the Insanity workout, etc.
I do really recommend taking up a high intensity sport like boxing or kickboxing, though, because they push you hard. Also exercise is far more interesting when you're learning a skill as you do it. And you see increases in your ability as well as your fitness which is really satisfying.
Training for that you get 3 different flavours of ice cream...and each exercise compliments and improves the others. Focusing on just the one might get boring mentality and physically.
Swimming is a very praised excersise as you are working out alot of muscles in your body.
Cycling is better then running IMO but it will improve your running too as you will build more muscle in your legs. Cycling is also generally fun and addictive. Low cost travel, efficient ... And will boost fitness and stamina without much impact damage to your body....depending how often you go out and your distance.
Running is high impact and can stress various muscles and body parts but is the best source out the 3 to lose weight. Running will feel better if your doing the other 2 regularly also.
Mix it all in with going the gym!
I have also set my own gold, silver and bronze standards, to eliminate the excuse of doing nothing. Gold is a very good day - high achieving, Silver, is good, Bronze OK. Anything less than Bronze is a disaster, because I know that it is fairly easily achievable. A couple of gold days may be needed to make up the shortfall.
Obviously, this is not a routine that’ll get an Olympic selection, but if you set your own achievable standards you’ll be more likely to stick at it and feel the benefit.
P.S. I have on occasion awarded myself the Platinum, but hey I don’t like to brag.
Mind you, not suggesting a -135 ice chamber to you!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36189778
Needed to do something about it, my brother in law got a fitbit and remember seeing him in January and he'd lost about 2 stone. So bought one myself, the competition between us just to walk more steps than another has seen me stop taking lifts, walking up escalators, and even just finding longer ways to walk to work (i get off 3 stops early on the tube and walk) having it on my wrist is just a reminder to move or do exercise... it's been all the motivation i need. Especially as now in competition with many work mates too. Also swapped out Beer for Wine at home (1/2 the calories!)
Lost nearly 2 stone already. Amazing what a few minor changes to my lifestyle have made.
The issue with this 'big achievement' approach I've found is staying motivated after doing the big event - I quickly reverted to doing nothing a lot of the time once the box was ticked. Starting to build up activity again and finding the best way to keep at it is building stuff into the daily routine - running to/from work (or part of the way if the commute is too long) is a good one. Also getting into different sports (squash is a good one) is a good shout, way more fun than gym work/endless miles/lengths/etc.